, 1887-05-18

SN'"A ACS0LOiuS CnO dItIClO til. auOO U6
without interest. Kapok is tile MALAY
and Javanese name for the Eri0deadroM
Gnfractuosam and the Gossampinus alba.
1t belongs to tue BombaceH family (which
comprises the BaOhab, the largest tree
yet known, the trunk being sometimes 80
feet i'll girth, and the Durham tree. Kapok,
also. known by the name of silk cotton,
was imported for the first time iuto Europe
i'll 1851 for the Exhibition held in LondCiif'
that year, where, however, little notice was
taken of it. In Holland more notice was
taken and that country continued to bu
the only market for the article, until its
value began to be better known in the
Australian colonies. At the Amsterdam
Exhibition held a few years ago, greater la
tereSt WAS taken in it than in 1851, but
yet the results so far as it's importation
into Europe was concerned, Holland ex-
cepted, proved diScOuraging. This is the
more extraordinary now that the article
has with q wonderful success secured ID
commanding position in the Australian
market. The first consignment of Java
Kapok arrived in Australia fifteen years
ago, Owing to the trade being then in
the hands of HOllanders and natives,
supplies were irregular and insignificant,
the results being. that sales were confined
to small quantities only. III 1881, on the
occasion of the Exhibition at Melbourne.
there zane thither the first shipments OF
Kapok from British India and Geylon.
The article met with a ready sale from ita
fitness for bedding and upholstery pufpo.
SEES.
Since then it has been imported into that
port INCREASINGLY, but q lively demand did
not spring up until the firm of Catherwoo6
WelIy & Co. of that City, with praise.
worthy nprSn Tnrnupp ami ram RI ahIa unO.h
fortune, imported and disposed OF the arti.
Gle in large quantities. This took pldcesin
1884, owing to Mr.. CatherwOOd, when pass
ing through Ccylon, becoming attracted
by the KapOk he saw. He at once per-
ceived it's economic uses and the future.
there must be in store for it. This i'm
provement with respect to Kapok, was not,
without influence on the market in HOl-
land where, in December 1884, not less
than l., 900 bales OF it We're. stored mp iip
warehouses at the prompting of a riAg to-
keep up prices, while dealers on their part
were firmly determined to stand out
against them in the hope that further
shipments would compel merchants to ease.
down stocks. They reckoned without.
their host, for unexpectedly the said firm.
secured tWO.thirds of the whole crOp4
These circumstances will have q material
effect in raising the price of Kapok in this
part of the void by the operation of the
we'll known economic rule that Whenever
the demand becomes greater, prices are
bound to rise. The rapid increase of
impOrtations of Kapok into Melbourne
may be judged of from the fact that
they rose from barely /, 900 bales in 1884
to upwards of 5000 in 1886, of which 1895
were from Java valued at G22;6O0. These
figures shew the leading position of Java
among Kapok-expOrting countries. From,
Ceyl lon so little of it is exported as to be
almost inappreciable. Comparison be-
tween Indian and Java Kapok brings out
the fact that the former stands immeasur-
ably inferior. In bales imported from
British India, good and bad Kapok is
intermixed, and as if this is not enough.
all sorts of foreign substances, such as.
sand and other heavy materials, areS ad-
ded to increase the weight, SO that the
bales require to be opened as a security
against fraud. Moreover the packing
leaves much to be desired. The Kapok
packed by means of hydraulic presses loses
that peculiar elasticity which renders it so
valuable. Moreover, by hard packing
uDcleaned stuff, az dark colonred oil is
expressed from the seeds, which is suffusea
over the Kapok and consequently stains:
it. From these disadvantages, Java
Kapok is free: it is always we'll packed,
brilliantly white in colour, and springy.
Tn<l0inG from the narticularS available al,